No farewell Please - retiring High Court Judge
WHEN a High Court Judge retires, usually a meeting is held in the Court of the Chief justice where all the judges of the High Court would be present and the Advocate General would make a farewell speech followed by photo session, high tea and maybe a dinner in a five star hotel.
But a Judge of the Madras High Court wants this farewell ritual to be put an end to. Justice Chandru who is retiring next month has written to the Chief justice requesting him not to order the farewell ritual for him. It seems the last time a judge declined a farewell function was in 1929, when Justice Jackson told the Advocate General, "I have done my job; where is the question of a farewell for me?"
Justice Chandru is a different Judge - he has a record of over one Lakh cases disposed of by him; he does not use the services of a mace carrying court employee escorting him; he does not have a gun toting security man; does not have official servants at home; does not approve lawyers calling him “my lord”. The Madras High Court website which carries the bio data of the judges has no link to Justice Chandru's details.